This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) governs your use of the Services and is incorporated by reference into our Terms of Service. Unless otherwise stated, defined terms in this AUP have the meanings provided to them in the Terms of Service. We may modify this AUP at any time without notice.

You shall use the Services only for lawful purposes. Transmission, storage, or display of any information, data, or material in violation of applicable laws or regulations, including without limitation the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is prohibited. We reserve the right to terminate the Services for any Customer that exposes the Company to legal liability or threatens its ability to provide services to other customers.  You agree to indemnify and hold the Company harmless from any claims resulting from your use of the Services.

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Prohibited Uses

You may not use the Services to publish content or engage in activity that is harmful to others or illegal under applicable law. Any content that, in our judgment, violates our Terms of Service, including this AUP, in any manner may be removed from our servers (or otherwise disabled), with or without notice. Examples of prohibited content and activities can be found in this section.

Zero Tolerance Spam Policy

We maintain a zero tolerance policy for use of our network or services to send unsolicited bulk or commercial e-mail, or the sending, assisting, or commissioning the transmission of commercial e-mail that does not comply with the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (“SPAM”). Please review this section to avoid action under our AUP.

Defamation and Objectionable Content

We respect that the Internet provides a forum for free and open discussion and dissemination of information.  Accordingly, we generally do not screen, monitor or control customer content.  However, if we are made aware of content that violates the law or this AUP, we will consider the matter and take appropriate action as determined in our sole discretion balancing the merits of the complaint with the right to freedom of expression.  

Enforcement

We may terminate your Services with or without notice upon any violation of this AUP.  This section describes how we may enforce this AUP.

Reporting AUP Violations

If you feel you have discovered a violation of our AUP, please review this section to learn about our reporting procedures.

1. Prohibited Uses:

1. No Illegal or Harmful Use – You may not use the Services to publish content or engage in activity that is harmful to others or illegal under applicable law, including without limitation in connection with any of the following illegal, harmful or fraudulent activities:
1. Disclosing private sensitive personal information about others;
2. Distributing malware or other malicious code;
3. Engaging in the unlawful distribution of controlled substances and drug contraband;
4. Engaging in the unlawful distribution of prescription medications, including, but not limited to, promotion, marketing, or sale of prescription medications without a valid prescription;
5. Gambling;
6. Hosting child pornography or content that is potentially harmful to minors (Any website found to be hosting child pornography or linking to child pornography will be suspended immediately without notice and reported to law enforcement or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NMEC);
7. Hosting FOREX, E-Gold Exchange, Second Life/Linden Exchange, Ponzi, MLM/Pyramid Scheme, High-Yield Interest Programs (HYIP) or related sites;
8. Hosting or linking to a website intended to deceive the public including, but not limited to sites listed at aa419.org & escrow-fraud.com;
9. Hosting or linking to an anonymous proxy server;
10. Infringing upon the Intellectual Property Rights of Others. This includes, but is not limited to, the unauthorized copying or distribution of movies, music, books, photographs, software/warez, or any other copyrighted work. If you believe that your intellectual property rights are being infringed upon, please notify us by completing the Report Abuse form, or emailing us at abuse@cn.hostgator.com;
11. Money laundering;
12. Phishing or engaging in identity theft; and
13. Selling weapons or ammunition.
    
2. No Unauthorized System Access or Network Abuse – You may not use the Services to gain access into any network or system without permission. Prohibited activities include:
1. Accessing another network without permission, to probe or scan for vulnerabilities or breach security or authentication measures;
2. Attacking other networks (i.e. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks);
3. Intercepting or monitoring data without permission;
4. Running a file sharing site;
5. Running any software that interfaces with an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network;
6. Using any deep-link, page-scrape, robot, crawl, index, spider, offline reader, click spam, macro programs, internet agent, or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology which does the same things, to use, access, copy, index, acquire information, generate impressions or clicks, input information, store information, search, generate searches, or monitor any portion of our website or servers for any unauthorized purpose;

3. Don’t Hamper System Performance – Consuming excessive amount of server resources is prohibited. This leads to server performance issues and may cause a disruption to our systems or other customers. Use of any scripts or processes that may adversely impact our systems is prohibited.
4. No Adult Content – You may not use the Services to distribute pornography or other adult-related content or offer any escort services.
5. No Storage of Backups – Backing up personal data to a hosting account is prohibited. Our Services are designed to host your website, not serve as a data repository. We reserve the right to remove backups from your hosting account.

2. Zero Tolerance Spam Policy

1. You may not use the Services to send spam or bulk unsolicited messages.   We maintain a zero tolerance policy for use of its network or services in any manner associated with the transmission, distribution or delivery of any bulk e-mail, including unsolicited bulk or unsolicited commercial e-mail, or the sending, assisting, or commissioning the transmission of commercial e-mail that does not comply with the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (“SPAM”).

2. “Safe lists,” purchased lists, and selling of lists will be treated as SPAM. We may terminate the account of any User who sends out SPAM with or without notice.

3. Websites advertised via SPAM (i.e. Spamvertised) may not be hosted on our servers. This provision includes, but is not limited to, SPAM sent via fax, phone, postal mail, email, instant messaging, or usenet/newsgroups. No organization or entity listed in the ROKSO may use our Services. Any User account which results in our IP space being blacklisted will be immediately suspended and/or terminated.

4. Please familiarize yourself with the CAN-SPAM Act.  Information about the CAN-SPAM Act may be found by accessing the following link: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
   

3. Defamation and Objectionable Content

1. 1. We value the freedom of expression and encourages Users to be respectful with the content they post.  As a webhost, we are not a publisher of User content and generally not in a position to investigate the veracity of individual defamation claims or to determine whether certain material, which we may find objectionable, should be censored.   Accordingly, we generally require a court order from a court of competent jurisdiction, as determined by the Company in its sole discretion, to take down alleged defamatory or objectionable content.  However, we reserve the right to disable or remove any content to prevent harm to others or to the Company, as determined in our sole discretion.

4. Enforcement

1. Resellers.
   1. If there is a violation of this AUP by a User of a Reseller, we will suspend the account in question and notify the Reseller so that the Reseller can address the matter with the User. The occurrence of additional violations on a User account may result in the immediate suspensions or termination of your Reseller account.

2. Direct customers.
   1. Your Services may be terminated with or without notice upon any violation of this AUP.
3. If applicable, violations will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
4. A failure to respond to an email from our compliance team within forty-eight (48) hours, or as otherwise specified in the email, may result in the suspension or termination of your Services.
5. We reserve the right to enforce, or not enforce, this AUP in our sole discretion.

5. Reporting violations of this AUP. If you feel you have discovered a violation of our AUP please complete the Report Abuse form, or email us at abuse@cn.hostgator.com.